Pure Indulgence

I am a proud, devoted local food advocate, small farmer supporter, and former farm worker. And I admit to having a weakness for asian food. In former days my organic eating hard working farming friends and I would sneak into the international grocery store and leave our food ethics at the door as we cooed and drooled over canned and imported indian curry pastes, garlic chili sauces and pickles, and frozen dumplings. That’s a weakness I haven’t overcome. I recently discovered a house in Managua where a Nicaraguan woman who married a Japanese man sells imported food from the front room of her house. I lost my inhibitions, and arrived back in Leon giggling deliriously over my purchased soy sauce, nori, wasabi, miso paste, Thai spring roll wrappers, and dried shiitake mushrooms. And it’s been delightful to mix those with the freshest Nicaraguan products like spring green onions from the market and grass fed local beef. I have some ideas for new fusions – mango cucumber farmers cheese (cuajada) sushi – and mostly am enjoying the familiar tastes that break up the somewhat monotonous Nicaraguan offerings. Making sushi is a fun social activity, Nick and I spent a long evening making dinner with our english friend Felicity and Nica friend Melaña the other night. Teaching Nicaraguans to make sushi and use chopsticks (palillos chinos) is a blast!